Illuminating round having dual range capability

ABSTRACT

An illuminating round having propulsion means and a flare composition, and means for deploying a parachute upon ignition of the flare composition. The forward end of the round is configured for low drag and means are provided for attaching an auxiliary part which provides for high drag during propulsion of the round.

United States Patent 1 1 Lohkamp Aug. 7, 1973 1 lLLUMlNATlNG ROUNDHAVING DUAL 3,485,460 12/1969 Mertens 244/31 RANGE CAPABILITY 3,431,8523/1969 Fow1er.................. 102/32 1,754,986 4/1930 Dri Jr. et a].102/32 Inventor: Carl p, Bloomfield, 1,941,590 1/1934 W155. 102/344Assignee: The United states of America as 3,105,438 10/1963 Aberg102/344 represented by the Secretary of the Navy, Washington, DC.Primary Examiner-Robert F. Stahl [22] Filed, Feb 28 1972 Attorney-R. S.Sciascia, H. H. Losche and Paul S.

Collignon [21] Appl. No.: 230,539

[57] ABSTRACT [52] Cl 437 An illuminating round having propulsion meansand a 51 I t Cl 13/38 flare composition, and means for deploying a parai34 34 6 chute upon ignition of the flare composition. The for- 1 o 3 492 ward end of the round is configured for low drag and means areprovided for attaching an auxiliary part 5 Reerences Cited whichprovides for high drag during propulsion of the round. UNITED STATESPATENTS 2,442,528 6/1948 Beattie 102/34.4 X 1 Claim, 4 Drawing FiguresILLUMINATING ROUND HAVING DUAL RANGE CAPABILITY STATEMENT OF GOVERNMENTINTEREST BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an end view of theaft end of a round; FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken on line 2-2 of FIG.

The invention described herein may be manufacl;

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to anilluminating round which can be fired from a hand-held weapon, such as agrenade launcher, and more particularly to an illuminating round havingdual range capability provided by a low drag and a high dragconfiguration.

Various devices are provided on projectiles and missiles to controleither their range or rate of descent. While parachutes are mostfrequently used to retard descent of falling objects, rotor and speedbrakes are also used as retarding devices. An example of a speed brakeis shown in U. S. Pat. No. 3,047,259, entitled Speed Brake RetardingMechanism For An Air- Dropped Store," which issued July 31, 1962, toGeorge J. Tatnall and Albert F. Scarcelli. In this patented device, aballistic-shaped cylindrical store is used and the speed brake iscomprised of a plurality of blades which are individually pivoted aboutpins disposed near the outer circumference of the store. Spring meansare provided for opening the blades, and a flexible screen is attachedto the blades for increasing drag.

An example of a rotor device is shown in U. S. Pat. No. 3,057,589,entitled, Aerial Device Having Rotor For Retarding Descent, which issuedOct. 9, 1962, to Derek J. Nutkins and Clifford B. Packard. In this rotordevice, a plurality of blades are connected to the rear portion ofacylindrical body. The blades are pivotal so they can assume either acollapsed or an operative position, and, when in the operative position,the blades extend outwardly from the body at pitch angles suitable tocause autorotation for retarding descent of the body.

In addition to retarding apparatus for free-falling objects, variousdevices have been provided on groundlaunched missiles for adjustingrange. In U. S. Pat. No. 3,343,767, entitled Device For Adjusting TheRange Of A Missile, which issued Sept. 26, 1967, an aerodynamic brake isattached to a missile to control range. Hinged panels are mounted aroundthe rocket, and these panels can be positioned at various angles toprovide different degrees of resistance as the missile is propelled inflight.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to anilluminating round which can be launched from a hand-held weapon, suchas a grenade launcher. A firing pin in the launcher detonates a primerwhich, in turn, ignites a propellant to propel the round. The burning ofthe propellant ignites a delay element which, in turn, ignites anilluminating composition. The ignition of the illuminating compositioncauses a parachute to deploy and the burning composition is parachutedto the ground. The round has two possible aerodynamic drag configurations, that is, high drag and low drag. The forward nose of the round isstreamlined to provide for low drag and a disk is attachable to theforward end to provide a high drag configuration.

FIG. 3 is a partial sectional view of the forward end of a round showinga high drag disk and low drag nose configuration; and

FIG. 4 is an end view of a round showing a high drag disk.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawings,an illuminating round 11 is shown having a primer case 12 and a motorcase 13. Primer case 12 has a primer 14 positioned therein and primercase 12 and motor case 13 are removably attached together, as bycrimping. Motor case 13 is closed at its aft end by a nozzle plate 15having a plurality of nozzles 16 therein, and the forward end of motorcase 13 is closed by a low drag nose tube 17. A closure plate 18 isprovided in motor case 13 and a propelling charge 19, such as blackpowder, is provided between closure plate 18 and nozzle plate 15.Igniter pellets 21 are provided in the center of propelling charge 19and detonation of primer l4 ignites pellets 21 which, in turn, ignitespropelling charge 19.

A pyrotechnic holder 22 is threadedly attached to closure plate 18 andcontains pyrotechnic delay elements 23 and a flash charge 24. A quantityof illuminating composition 25 is provided in inner container 26 whichhas an outside diameter slightly less than the inside diameter of motorcase 13, so that inner container 26 can be ejected. The forward end ofcontainer 26 is closed by plate 27 which has a swivel ring 28 attachedthereto. A quantity of ignition mix 29 is provided on i1- luminatingcomposition 25 adjacent flash charge 24 to facilitate ignition ofcomposition 25.

Illuminating flare composition 2.5 is comprised of a fuel, such asmagnesium, an oxidizing agent such as sodium nitrate and a binder systemcomprised of a liquid epoxy resin of the bisphenol A Epichlorohydrintype containing cresyl glycidyl ether and a liquid epoxy resin of thePolyglycol-Epichlorohydrin type. By way of example, composition 25 mightbe comprised of between 56 and 60 percent, by weight, of magnesium,between 35 and 40 percent, by weight, of sodium nitrate, between 2 and7.5 percent, by weight, of liquid epoxy resin of the bisphenol AEpichlorohydrin type containing cresyl glycidyl ether,-between 0.9 and3.5 percent, by weight, of liquid epoxy resin of the Polyglycol-Epichlorohydrin type, and between 0.4 and 1.5 percent, by weight, of analiphatic polyamine hardener. The liquid epoxies and hardener can beobtained from The Dow Chemical Company, Midland, Mich. The liquid epoxyresin of the bisphenol A Epichlorohydrin type containing cresyl glycidylether is marketed by The Dow Chemical Company under the trademark D.E.R.321 and is a liquid epoxy resin having an epoxide equivalent weightvalue of between 182-192 and a viscosity of between 500-700 cps at 25C.The liquid epoxy resin of the Polyglycol-Epiclhlorohydrin type ismarketed by The Dow Chemical Company under the trademark D. E. R. 732and is a liquid epoxy resin having an epoxide equivalent weight value ofbetween 305 and 335 and a viscosity of between 55 cps at 25C. Thehardener is an aliphatic polyamine and is marketed by The Dow ChemicalCompany under the name Experimental Hardener QX-3482.l. The hardener hasan amine hydrogen equivalent of about 29 and is similar incharacteristics to diethylene triamine and triethylene tetramine.

A parachute 31 is packed inside nose tube 17 and the shroud lines ofparachute 31 are connected to swivel ring 28. As best shown in FIGS. 2and 3 of the drawing, the forward edge of nose tube 17, which iscylindrical in shape, is provided with a radiused corner 32 whichprovides low drag as motor case 13 is propelled through the air. Athreaded stud 33 is provided on the forward end of nose tube 17 and isused to attach blunt nose disk 34 thereto. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 ofthe drawing, disk 34 has a leading edge with sharp corners and isprovided with a tapped hole 35 that is engageable with stud 33. A pairof notches 36 is provided on the forward end of disk 34 to accommodate aspanner wrench for tightening disk 34 to nose tube 17.

OPERATION In operation, prior to loading illuminating round 11 into agrenade launcher, a choice must be made on using either a low drag orhigh drag nose configuration. By way of example, when disk 34 isthreadedly attached to low drag nose tube 17, parachute 31 deploys at arange of about 600 yards and, without disk 34 in place, parachute 31deploys at a range of about 800 yards.

The firing pin of a grenade launcher strikes, and detonates, primer 14which ignites igniter pellets 21 which, in 'tum ignites propellingcharge 19. The gases emitted from the burning of propelling charge 19exit through nozzles 16 and propel motor case 13 through the air. Primercase 12 remains in the launcher barrel and is ejected before anotherround is fired. The burning propelling charge 19 ignites delay elements23, and elements 23 burn for 5 or 6 seconds and then ignite illuminatingcomposition 25. The gases created by the burning of composition 25causes inner container 26 to separate, which also causes nose tube 17 tobe ejected, whereupon parachute 31 is deployed. Parachute 31 retards thedescent of inner container 26 and the burning of composition 25illuminates the ground below.

I claim:

1. An illuminating round comprising,

a motor case,

a nozzle plate closing an aft end of said motor case,

an inner case in said motor case positioned forward of said propellingcharge, said inner case extendingbeyond the forward end of said motorcase and having a radiused leading edge providing reduced windresistance during flight,

a quantity of illuminating composition and a parachute within said innercase, said parachute being deployed upon ignition of said illuminatingcomposition,

a propelling charge in said motor case positioned between said nozzleplate and said quantity of illuminating composition,

a primer for igniting said propelling charge,

a pyrotechnic delay element for igniting said illuminating compositionafter said propelling charge is ignited, and

a cylindrical disk having a leading edge with a sharp corner removablyattached to the forward end of said inner case for providing high dragduring flight of said illuminating round.

1. An illuminating round comprising, a motor case, a nozzle plateclosing an aft end of said motor case, an inner case in said motor casepositioned forward of said propelling charge, said inner case extendingbeyond the forward end of said motor case and having a radiused leadingedge providing reduced wind resistance during flight, a quantity ofilluminating composition and a parachute within said inner case, saidparachute being deployed upon ignition of said illuminating composition,a propelling charge in said motor case positioned between said nozzleplate and said quantity of illuminating composition, a primer forigniting said propelling charge, a pyrotechnic delay element forigniting said illuminating composition after said propelling charge isignited, and a cylindrical disk having a leading edge with a sharpcorner removably attached to the forward end of said inner case forproviding high drag during flight of said illuminating round.